After 53 Years, Obama To Normalize Ties with Cuba

by Jim Lobe In perhaps his boldest foreign policy move during his presidency, Barack Obama Wednesday announced that he intends to establish full diplomatic relations with Cuba. While the president noted that he lacked the authority to lift the 54-year-old… Continue Reading

Friends, Not Just Enemies, of an Iranian Nuclear Deal are Imperiling It

by Paul R. Pillar U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in Geneva resuming work on an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Whether the negotiations succeed in producing a deal is still very much in doubt, but not because it is… Continue Reading

Why Does ISIS Hate Shi’a?

by Graham E. Fuller ISIS has particularly targeted Shi’a as a key part of their brutal onslaught against any practice of Islam that does not conform to their narrow ahistorical interpretation view of their religion. We hear a lot from… Continue Reading

It’s Egypt That Needs Higher Oil Prices

by Thomas W. Lippman The country that could ultimately suffer the most damage from a sustained depression in the world price of oil could be one that is not a major producer: Egypt. Unable to sustain itself, Egypt is being… Continue Reading

The IAEA Faces a Major Credibility Test

by Robert Kelley On December 11, the spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that his agency was, as Gareth Porter asserted on this website earlier this month, not interested in accepting a recent invitation by Iran to… Continue Reading